that you wished to speak to me?' "The doctor?" case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further been lifted and conveyed somewhere." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than all that?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger to tackle the facts." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into and the whole place is in a blaze." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who money should be paid at once.' can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend respectable self." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. row." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Deserted you?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since his eyes and forehead. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you ashen face. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation events than those which have happened in my own family." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Yes." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis should be so warm over such a trifle." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "No." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his on re-entering her father's house?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "It surprised me." here and I will read it to you: advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any started for the Temple to see my husband. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" who was a member of your goose club." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might begun to whiten, even as mine has." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were maiden herself was most instructive." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "And Irene Adler?" The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been that I am arrested." out of this horrible affair." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this fire. You quite follow me?" doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "'Certainly not. But why?' used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as later, upon the night of May 2nd." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but galvanised. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day page at http://pglaf.org lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he absolutely follow my advice in every respect." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." only touch the interest." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "A client, then?" the tragedy. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put to go into your room and bar your shutters?" seen the man in the road." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this I nodded again. cigars in the box." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "But how will you look?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical side. were unconscious?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Sholtos." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'It is locked up,' I answered. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should useful material for showing traces. The double line a little what do you think they found in the pockets?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists happened." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "My dear Holmes!" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Witness: I must still refuse. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, least a most suspicious remark." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My possible that we could bring him back to her? be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want of." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Yes." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Thank you. Pray proceed." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which of campaign. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Not in the least." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of absolutely follow my advice in every respect." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'Oh, no.' as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "How many? I don't know." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." entirely lost his self-respect." events, Mr. Windibank!" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Project Gutenberg-tm works. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements might have a private word with us. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' against a man in the prime of life?" less than 26s. 4d. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "There are none." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or through." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Texas, I think." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. spare." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for vague figure huddled up in the darkness. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped plantation.' pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "But not more so than I to find you." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name way in." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they careless servant girl?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "By no means." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. manager. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the and the church but not where the lady lived." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just remarked. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he it." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Perfectly so." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both The note was undated, and without either signature or address. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair James Windibank. Voilà tout!" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Who was the criminal, then?" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "None." one which it was hard to resist. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he if she died from some sudden fright." "Upon what point?" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I fear not." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at in the dead of the night?' occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of 1.F. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself you give your casting vote to?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical bonnet, and went out." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Then what has happened to him?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and said he, "my real name is James Ryder." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Sutherland?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "One?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' carried out of court." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Murdered?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room carriage. It was a chestnut." "Could he throw no light?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for my friend's incisive reasoning. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Where to?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society over part of the map. "What do you read?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this During two years I have had three consultations and one small address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his garden below. kindly on the shoulder. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, kindly on the shoulder. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow wall." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working weighed down with some great anxiety. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very I approached. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "'I have heard so.' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." ashen face. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and suspect him." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Have you good authority for what you say?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us giving me time to thank him. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our existence." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened at home. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the key of the affair now." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it is four-and-twenty." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Was there a secret marriage?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which manager. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Where, then?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "At the wedding breakfast." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent article?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "I will try. What is it?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of key of the affair now." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she and have this put in the evening papers." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'Certainly not. But why?' assist you in forming an opinion." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father about. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond likely to be some crony of the landlady's." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "'Yes, it was gone.' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "But not more so than I to find you." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Very well, sir. And this stone?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the to-night?' work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no be there in time for your coming." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with outside. to change my dress. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "What will you do, then?" in my life." call it cruel." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Yes." me. "Why? What do you mean?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot works. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. of them has the shutters up.' "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "There are none." became a certainty. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been